Everyone should be born, live, and die under the same conditions regardless of what happens in between. No need for hard work and learning to advance your career, because if you’re successful you’re only punished for it. Instead of enjoying the fruits of your labor, you can enjoy giving it all away to the government to redistribute among the unemployed or the lazy. These are the main concepts behind socialism. The left loves expanding the size of the government so they can slowly sneak in socialist policies. Whether expanding the welfare state, nationalized healthcare, or wealth redistribution, the left always pushes these socialist policies. The common argument used behind socialism is that it’s a great idea on paper but has always been poorly implemented. While it’s true that socialism has always been poorly implemented, it is by no means a good idea on paper. Sure, its result can be somewhat pleasant: a uniform society with no poverty and everyone having access to whatever resources they want. However, the cost is unimaginable.

Utopia doesn’t exist.

Beyond the overexpanded government putting all citizens at risk of tyranny, socialism defies human nature. It is, by all means, human nature to want to thrive. Going back to prehistoric times, people required survival instincts to live in an uncivilized world. Reflecting this same nature onto the modern world, almost all people want to be successful. No matter what career or lifestyle they may choose, they all want to be able to financially support themselves...or so we thought. This very defiance of human nature is what has created the welfare state or the typical socialist mindset. This is similar to how Bernie Sanders supporters feel, in that they have no obligation to support themselves whatsoever and think that their actions have absolutely no impact on their results. To them, even if you work hard, you can’t rise up in the world when the system is rigged against you. The reality is, some people work harder than others, and even in a completely equal society, some people will rise higher than others. So for a socialist, instead of working hard like the most successful people, they instead turn to envy over someone else’s success. This leads to movements like that of Bernie Sanders, where a large group of lazy and/or ignorant young people with no real idea of how the world of work functions to rebel against the successful and hardworking citizens for their “fair share”. That’s what was so terrible about the Bernie Sanders movement; the idea that his supporters are somehow being denied their “fair share” just because they came from or currently are in a lower economic standing. First of all, everyone has the same opportunities. We all have access to education and we all have the ability to work hard. Second of all, no one, no matter who you are, is entitled to a “fair share” of someone else’s earnings. Despite its failures, socialists still argue citing the “wonders” it worked in countries like Denmark and Finland. When it comes to Denmark and Finland, several key factors need to be remembered. In those countries, there is very little diversity. Not just racially, but economically and geographically, those countries are practically uniform. So for a country like that, socialist policies are less detrimental than they would be in America. In a huge country made up of such different incomes, lifestyles, and landscapes, socialism would ravage through the country without adapting to any one aspect of America. It would worsen cities by expanding the welfare state and trapping more people within it, and it would hurt rural farms with its high taxes. Despite how easy socialist policies are to adopt in Denmark and Finland, especially in comparison to America, they still don’t work. In Denmark and Finland, the income tax for middle-class households is at least 60%, but oftentimes well over that mark. Sales tax is also astronomically high with both countries having a sales tax around 25 percent. Furthermore, a huge chunk of government spending in other countries is absent in socialist European countries: defense. These countries spend little to nothing on defense because America is kind enough to essentially pay it for them with NATO. Still, despite all of this money going into these socialist governments, the country’s debt and deficit rise as they go bankrupt. Socialists like the ones following Bernie Sanders are so busy coming up with excuses for why they’re unsuccessful that they will never be successful. If they instead exert the same amount of effort working and learning as they do complaining, they wouldn’t have anything to complain about. The failed concept that is socialism and its growing support in America is truly dangerous and is a looming threat over the future of societal prosperity.